What undergraduate school should I go to?

[Anastasia Petrov]

Hi, everyone! I was wondering what undergraduate school you think I should go to. I have narrowed it down to Rutgers or University of Maryland, however, I am the most indecisive person and like looking at multiple perspectives before making a decision. So I would love any thoughts you could contribute.

I would be an animal science major on a pre-vet path. I prefer smaller colleges, although both of these colleges are relatively large. I am not too fond of how spaced out Rutgers is, and how you need a bus to get to classes. But, it doesn't bother me enough to have any preference. The cost would be about $20,000 for each university annually.

I also was admitted into the CALS transfer option. So if I receive a 3.0-4.0 gpa the first year in either of these colleges I could go to Cornell the following year. Cornell is my dream school (not because it is an ivy league), but I acknowledge that it is costly to go to, and may not be the best decision financially. After all vet schools mainly look at gpas and GRE scores anyway, I think. However, if I go to Rutgers my mother will put me on her taxes and I would receive in-state tuition. ($34,209 instead of $50,953). Is it worth it to go to Rutgers and then Cornell, assuming I obtain the required gpa, or should I save up for vet school? Both my parents really want me to go to Cornell. Overall, Rutgers, UMD, and Cornell are very respectable schools and I'd be happy anywhere.

Here are some aspects of each college that I like:
University of Maryland:
- walkable campus
- less number of students
- can apply to vet school a year earlier
- love the study abroad options
- love the internship/research opportunities
- The Combined Ag-Veterinary Medicine looks like a lot of fun. And "In addition to their major faculty advisor, students interested in veterinary medicine also work with a second advisor in the admissions office of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine located on campus. A combined degree program is available to students who gain admission to veterinary school prior to completing their bachelor's degree."

Rutgers:
- most of my friends go here
- I am in the honors program
- might be easier to get a higher gpa
- there is a train that goes from Rutgers to each of my parents homes (25% discount on trains for students)
- instate tuition to Cornell

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[rockatiel]

If they're $20,000 annually tuition wise, I would look at cost of living as well. If you're serious about vet school, getting IS tuition at Cornell, should you get in, is quite a plus. I wouldn't base a decision on where it's "easier to get good grades". Rigor can be looked at on vet school applications, but finances should be the most important factor. It's smart to think of these things as early as possible. Now, if you go through cost of living and it's also close, you may be able to pick where you'd be happiest. Can you get IS at VMRCVM? I'd check on that too. Good luck, you have some awesome choices.

 

[Hopeful_DVM]

Cheapest=Best, unless your parents are planning to fund your tuition. Undergrad loans on top of vet school loans is not pretty.

 

[Anastasia Petrov]

If they're $20,000 annually tuition wise, I would look at cost of living as well. If you're serious about vet school, getting IS tuition at Cornell, should you get in, is quite a plus. I wouldn't base a decision on where it's "easier to get good grades". Rigor can be looked at on vet school applications, but finances should be the most important factor. It's smart to think of these things as early as possible. Now, if you go through cost of living and it's also close, you may be able to pick where you'd be happiest. Can you get IS at VMRCVM? I'd check on that too. Good luck, you have some awesome choices.

Thank you so much! I should have clarified that Rutgers and UMD are both about $20,000 including the meal plan, tuition, and room and board. However, Cornell would probably be more around $50,000 when including the meal plan and room and board. I could get IS at VMRCVM. I think going there for vet school may be the wiser decision.

 

[cloverbug]

Take it from someone who got a B.S. in Veterinary Science: get a degree you can actually use. Seriously. I can't do anything with my bachelor's. It was pretty much useless and limited what kind of jobs I could get after I graduated while I worked on getting more experience for vet school. Any of the science degrees will give you the prereqs you need for vet school. Heck, one of my classmates is an accounting major so it really doesn't matter as long as you get the prereqs done. Back on topic, go with the cheapest choice, especially if the cost of living is cheaper. In the long run, it'll put the least amount of pressure on you for finding work that will pay you a living wage and be able to pay back your loans (if you get any). If you can get in-state tuition to a vet school, I'd say go with that option too. It'll increase your chance of getting into that school and reduce your vet school debt. Just something to think about.

 

[Anastasia Petrov]

Take it from someone who got a B.S. in Veterinary Science: get a degree you can actually use. Seriously. I can't do anything with my bachelor's. It was pretty much useless and limited what kind of jobs I could get after I graduated while I worked on getting more experience for vet school. Any of the science degrees will give you the prereqs you need for vet school. Heck, one of my classmates is an accounting major so it really doesn't matter as long as you get the prereqs done. Back on topic, go with the cheapest choice, especially if the cost of living is cheaper. In the long run, it'll put the least amount of pressure on you for finding work that will pay you a living wage and be able to pay back your loans (if you get any). If you can get in-state tuition to a vet school, I'd say go with that option too. It'll increase your chance of getting into that school and reduce your vet school debt. Just something to think about.

Wow, this forum is so helpful. Thank you!

 

[deleted676737]

Go to the cheapest school. Please.

Like Hopeful_DVM stated, undergrad loans on top of vet school loans sucks. Just trust me personally on this one. I went to a small, no-name, "cheap" college and still wound up $40k in the hole (and it could have been a lot more, too, which is the sad part). It's something that, even before starting vet school, has caused me a good deal of anxiety.

ETA: To clarify... if your educational costs will be mostly/completely covered by scholarships and/or family, then by all means, go wherever you'd like. But if you're relying on loans to get through undergrad... the cost of attendance AND cost of living really should be a deciding factor. Maybe not the largest one, but an important one nonetheless.

 

[genny]

Go for whatever gets you into Cornell. Having an Ivy League school on your resume will open doors. Vet school isn't guaranteed, no matter what undergrad school you go to, so I wouldn't choose an undergrad school based off of the possibility of going to vet school someday.

 

[Anastasia Petrov]

Go to the cheapest school. Please.

Like Hopeful_DVM stated, undergrad loans on top of vet school loans sucks. Just trust me personally on this one. I went to a small, no-name, "cheap" college and still wound up $40k in the hole (and it could have been a lot more, too, which is the sad part). It's something that, even before starting vet school, has caused me a good deal of anxiety.

ETA: To clarify... if your educational costs will be mostly/completely covered by scholarships and/or family, then by all means, go wherever you'd like. But if you're relying on loans to get through undergrad... the cost of attendance AND cost of living really should be a deciding factor. Maybe not the largest one, but an important one nonetheless.

Thank you! My family does want to cover my undergraduate costs. However, I'd rather not burden them with too much.

 

[deleted676737]

Thank you! My family does want to cover my undergraduate costs. However, I'd rather not burden them with too much.

That's fantastic! Just realize how incredibly fortunate you are to be in that position.

 

[SummerTheLynx]

Go for whatever gets you into Cornell. Having an Ivy League school on your resume will open doors. Vet school isn't guaranteed, no matter what undergrad school you go to, so I wouldn't choose an undergrad school based off of the possibility of going to vet school someday.

What's interesting about this is I heard that in the past that Cornell actually will select against people that go to their school for undergrad (too inbred). I am not sure if this is still the case or not, but it could actually be a negative for them to go to undergrad at Cornell if their dream is to go to Cornell vet school (if I was reading what you said correctly).

In any event, I would recommend against the Cornell path simply due to increased costs, increased loans, etc. But with equal costs, it really comes down to what you value most between Rutgers and U of Maryland.

 

[missdarjeeling]

If it's possible for you to get grants to attend Cornell, I would consider doing the transfer program. In the wider world, names really do open doors, and if you end up deciding not to go to vet school, it can help. Do you need to decide now whether to participate? Or is it something where you can sort of be on that track but then change your mind and stay at your original school if you don't want to transfer?

That being said, you can still do very well for yourself and get a quality education at either UMD or Rutgers. To be honest, though, in your shoes, I'd hesitate to go to Rutgers. I'm originally from New Jersey and have two siblings who went to Rutgers. Half of my high school friends ended up there, and many have gone on to awesome careers. I also worked there in administration for two years before starting on the vet med path. Although it's "cool" to say negative things about Rutgers, most of those complaints you might here from Jersey people are actually true. The bureaucracy is legendary for being awful because it truly is awful on a level I haven't seen at the other two state schools I've attended. Having a large student body is a concern, but the bigger problem is that the school is almost always at or above capacity, so many students have difficulty getting into the courses they want to take. The bigger the department, the harder it is to have control over your own education. I don't know how much this may have changed in the past few years or so, but the experiences that friends had in the sciences was that most of the teaching was done by TAs and that there was poor quality control as far as their teaching abilities. Some of them were great, but others were terrible, and a few didn't have enough of a command of English to properly teach complicated subjects to students. Given the trends in higher academia as a whole to rely on TAs and adjunct labor, I imagine this has gotten worse. My old department was in the humanities, and we relied heavily on adjuncts. But they may have made improvements in the teaching program overall, so I would encourage you to try to get the most recent information from current students.

The budget is constantly an issue as the university always seems to be hemorrhaging money (don't get me started on how they've raided the general fund to pay for football), and the state always seems to be cutting its appropriations (by far the biggest factor in the budget problems), so expect tuition and room and board hikes basically every year. On the plus side, though, the greater university and individual departments do try their best to award grants and scholarships, so if you're eligible for some need-based aid, the increases won't hit you so hard. The other concern is that quality of life in New Brunswick isn't great and is getting worse. Even over the past few years, the crime rates have shot up, and though the worst of it seems to still involve non-students, there are student victims who have been mugged or have had their homes burgled. What's most concerning to me is that the university hasn't been as forthcoming about this, and there have been crimes right on/near campus that the local media have reported on that the University Police has ignored. It didn't used to be that way, and we'd get an alert for anything near campus even if it didn't involve anyone affiliated with the university. When I worked there, I commuted, and it was fine, though commuting anywhere in New Jersey is a special kind of misery. The issue there, of course, is that living off campus and commuting makes the transition to a new school and new life more difficult, and it's so much harder to make friends and take advantage of social opportunities. And there are lots of opportunities, extracurricular clubs, etc. at Rutgers, and the diversity of the student body makes it an interesting place.

I don't really know very much about UMD, and it's very possible that it may have some of the same issues that Rutgers does. Hopefully someone who went there can chime in. The fact that you would be able to actually establish residency in MD instead of just going to school there and that you'd be able to claim in-state for VMCVM is an important factor, IMO. If you were to become a dependent to a parent in NJ, you'd be a resident of a state with no vet school and no contract seats.

Regardless of where you go, any school program really depends on what you put into it yourself. At any of the schools, you can leave well-prepared to do what you want to do if you work towards it. Good luck on making a decision!

 

[Osudairy]

I agree with the majority of the posts here: go for the cheaper option. You will thank yourself in the long run, especially after paying for the ridiculous vet school tuition. Your Bachelor's in Animal Science will be a good degree choice and can be used. If I could do it over again, I would have completed my undergrad at a cheaper school. My Master's was funded with paid tuition (by my adviser) so I can't complain there. You really want to graduate with the least amount of dept possible.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

What's interesting about this is I heard that in the past that Cornell actually will select against people that go to their school for undergrad (too inbred). I am not sure if this is still the case or not, but it could actually be a negative for them to go to undergrad at Cornell if their dream is to go to Cornell vet school (if I was reading what you said correctly).

In any event, I would recommend against the Cornell path simply due to increased costs, increased loans, etc. But with equal costs, it really comes down to what you value most between Rutgers and U of Maryland.

This is still true, or at least highly suspicious.

 

[genny]

What's interesting about this is I heard that in the past that Cornell actually will select against people that go to their school for undergrad (too inbred). I am not sure if this is still the case or not, but it could actually be a negative for them to go to undergrad at Cornell if their dream is to go to Cornell vet school (if I was reading what you said correctly).

In any event, I would recommend against the Cornell path simply due to increased costs, increased loans, etc. But with equal costs, it really comes down to what you value most between Rutgers and U of Maryland.

I have an undergrad degree from an ivy. I have been called for job interviews based solely on the school name. I don't think choice of undergrad will affect her vet school choices much at all, which is why everyone says to go for the cheaper option. But choice of undergrad could be important if vet school doesn't work out. Or if she discovers an all-consuming passion for organic chemistry while taking her prereqs that compels her to pursue a PhD instead, however unlikely that may be.

 

[SummerTheLynx]

I have an undergrad degree from an ivy. I have been called for job interviews based solely on the school name. I don't think choice of undergrad will affect her vet school choices much at all, which is why everyone says to go for the cheaper option. But choice of undergrad could be important if vet school doesn't work out. Or if she discovers an all-consuming passion for organic chemistry while taking her prereqs that compels her to pursue a PhD instead, however unlikely that may be.

Oh agreed, it's more that if Cornell is her dream vet school, I don't want her to be disappointed if stuff is being weighted against her

 

[hersheyjack]

Rutgers is a fantastic school! I have had an amazing experience with the Animal Science dept and all of the hands on experiences they offer. The Animal Science faculty are probably among the best I've seen at the school, and they have a good deal of pre-vet advisors. Most people I know who applied got into at least one school this year. Plus the school spirit is phenomenal- especially football games. I think it probably shares many of the same problems as other large schools in cities, but I've never had much of a problem with it.